What happens when employees punch their own clock? They're happier--and more productive. An inside look at Best Buy's bold experiment

Jennifer Janssen is having one of those days. She works in the finance department of Best Buy, and one of the company's electronics suppliers is furious because he claims he has not been paid. "He told me, 'I'm not going to ship any more product to your company unless I get this issue resolved,'" she says. She has to fix the problem by the end of the day, but the 35-year-old mother of 5-year-old twins also has to pick up her children from day care. What happens next? Perhaps she makes a sheepish call to her husband, asking if he could...